DakhaBrakha

Here’s what the New York Timessaid about DakhaBrakha’s appearance at the 2014 Global Beat Festival -”listeners were clapping and whooping along.

Sponsored by KFAI

About Dakhabrakha

DakhaBrakha is a world music quartet from Kiev, Ukraine. Their music is equal parts elemental sound and soul and Ukranian “ethnic chaos,” creating a new world sound that is unexpected and fresh.
Taking their name from the old Ukranian language (the literal translation is “give/take”), DakhaBrakha was created at the Kiev Center of Contemporary Art by theatre director Vladislav Troitskyi. The theater figures prominently in their show, from their costumes to their staging.

While their basis is in Ukrainian folk music, the band has added rhythms of the surrounding world into their music. Dakhabrakha illuminate traditional Ukrainian melodies with their updated arrangements, keeping the music alive for new generations.

At the crossroads of Ukrainian folklore and theater their musical spectrum is intimate then riotous, plumbing the depths of contemporary roots and rhythms, inspiring “cultural and artistic liberation.”

What Other People Have Been Saying...

“DakhaBrakha’s sirens, oceans, and universal forgetfulness is something that everyone wants to experience from time to time… truly a special and borderline groundbreaking listening experience.” -Muzik Dizcovery

“visually striking and sonically mesmerizing” – Broadway World

About LOTT

LOTT is the solo project of Minneapolis musician Leah Ottman (We Are The Willows, Better Bones, and batteryboy).

The core inspiration for LOTT’s compositions is the Romantic Period of classical music. The chordal structures, intervals, and melodies heard throughout her songs are reminiscent of those used by Antonin Dvorak, Alexander Borodin, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, French Impressionist composer, Maurice Ravel, and then condensed into pop songs. She explores the range on her violin by utilizing a looping pedal and similar techniques employed by looping violinist pioneers, Andrew Bird, Kishi Bashi, and Owen Pallet.

LOTT has been likened to a modern day torch singer of indie music – both in her lyrical themes and vocal styling. She has been greatly influenced by Patsy Cline’s catalogue of songs about unrequited love and heartbreak.

The music project of LOTT started as a desire to express her creativity and love for the violin by merging the two worlds of classical and contemporary music. LOTT began performing publicly in early 2014. Her first single was released by The Homestead Records in August 2014. The song was recorded at The Pearl Recording Studio and engineered and mixed by Zachary Hollander, produced by Adam Levy (Honeydogs, And The Professors), mastered by Jeremiah Satterthwaite, and features instrumentalists, Eric Carranza on guitar (Hot Date, Better Bones, and batteryboy), Travis Collins on bass (We Are The Willows and Deleter), and Charlie Rudoy on drums (Carroll).